Hanger Orthopedic Group (Hanger), Austin, Texas, and Sikorsky Aircraft (Sikorsky), Stratford, Connecticut, a subsidiary of United Technologies, Hartford, Connecticut, have partnered to improve prosthetic care to amputees in Colombia, according to a Hanger press release.
Due to decades of conflict, Colombia has experienced a large number of landmine victims, with more than 7,700 landmine survivors registered since 2002. While the Colombian government has made strides in reducing the number of landmines, the development of an indigenous infrastructure for prosthetic treatment for the survivors is lagging and the Columbian government has asked for assistance from the international community.
In response, Hanger and Sikorsky have collaborated to improve Colombian prosthetic services through two initiatives-the clinical education and training of Colombians interested in becoming prosthetists and technicians, and the implementation of an in-country clinic to help alleviate the backlog of amputees needing prosthetic intervention.
Early program efforts focus on training and development, while the next phase will include the delivery of Hanger’s products and services in Colombia. Sikorsky is providing four scholarships to Colombian students to attend Hanger’s Newington Certificate Program (NCP) for Orthotics & Prosthetics, Connecticut, where the students will complete an intensive nine-month course and internship preparing them as qualified clinicians trained in patient assessment, prosthetics fitting, and socket/limb fabrication. The first two students are currently enrolled at NCP and will return to work in the Central Military Hospital Prosthetics Laboratory in Bogotá, Colombia this summer. Prosthetists from Hanger will return with the students to Colombia to provide prosthetic treatment and devices to Colombian amputees in an in-country clinic.
“We are pleased to partner with Sikorsky in their admirable mission to establish a sustainable prosthetics clinic through education, training, and the provision of our products and services to those in need in Colombia,” Hanger President and CEO Tom Kirk said. “Together, we are confident we can restore mobility and improve quality of life.”
